Astra SRI

real

real

real

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Good Evening,

I’m after a bit of advice regarding what to do with my car- 1998 Vauxhall Astra 2.0 SRI 3dr.

Picture of the car for those interested- http://homepage.ntlworld.com/d.rizzle/Cars/Astra SRI/SP_A0052F.JPG

I was driving back from work a last week and there were extremely loud squealing/screeching noises coming from the engine bay and the temperature was through the roof. Regrettably I carried on driving for a good 15 minutes in an attempt to get home. But the noise became unbearable so I pulled over and called AA.

The AA came out and asked me to start the engine. Cue even louder noises and the engine not starting. His opinion was that the cam belt had gone, probably slipped off the water pump bearings or something along those lines. I thought it couldn’t get any worse- a roughly £300 job to do the cam belt.

Got the car towed to my mechanic and he reckoned that damage might have been done to the pistons/valves because the car wouldn’t start and I had continued to drive the car. He opened the oil cap and was either looking or listening for “signs of compression” and came to the conclusion there was more damage and the head would need to come off- Approximately an £800 job.

So, does this conclusion sound about right? I’ve also spoken to another mechanic who said it might need a completely new engine!

I face a bit of a dilemma as I don’t know whether it is worth getting the work done. This is because the gearbox is also on its way out and could go any moment. I had problems with it not going into certain gears. Changed the gear linkage but this did not solve the problem but we somehow managed to bodge a fix and I can get all the gears if I use force. However I do have to hold the gear stick in fifth otherwise it pops out.

Taking into account all of the above it breaks my heart to say I might just have to scrap it and loose what was a good looking car. I paid £2600 for in July 07. Even if I sold the car now in perfect working order I’m guessing I’d only get around £1800, if that. Can anyone offer any advice or opinions on what to do? The second mechanic I mentioned offered to open up the head for £90 to see what needs doing. Is it even worth doing that or should I cut my loses now?


Thanks in advance
 
sounds very reasonable that you've killed the car by driving it in the state it was in.

Given the age of the car, the state of the gearbox and engine. Get it weighed in for scrap.

Just write it off as a rather expensive mistake because i honestly cant see how ploughing £1000s into a car of this value makes sense.
 
Selling it for scrap would be a very foolish idea.

Get a secondhand engine and box from e-bay / breakers for £500ish

I'd take the cambelt cover off and look into what happened myself, its easy to see if something went wrong with the cambelt.
 
Firestar_3x said:
Selling it for scrap would be a very foolish idea.

Get a secondhand engine and box from e-bay / breakers for £500ish

I'd take the cambelt cover off and look into what happened myself, its easy to see if something went wrong with the cambelt.
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Firestar_3x said:
Selling it for scrap would be a very foolish idea.

Get a secondhand engine and box from e-bay / breakers for £500ish

I'd take the cambelt cover off and look into what happened myself, its easy to see if something went wrong with the cambelt.
Click to expand...

and get who to fit it

people dont start stripping cars and replacing engines for peanuts
 
real said:
He opened the oil cap and was either looking or listening for “signs of compression” and came to the conclusion there was more damage and the head would need to come off- Approximately an £800 job.
Click to expand...
sorry but this made me laugh :(
 
Car with a working engine is work £1800 according to him, car sold as scrap will prolly get £150.

Thats one chunk of money to give away, even if he fixed it and sold it he would still make more money back or run the thing into the ground and get his moneys worth.
 
Firestar_3x said:
Car with a working engine is work £1800 according to him, car sold as scrap will prolly get £150.

Thats one chunk of money to give away, even if he fixed it and sold it he would still make more money back or run the thing into the ground and get his moneys worth.
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its worth more like £1000 in the current climate

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/739688.htm

possibly even less given the one above is a 2000. Given that the car is worth £900 or whatever, does it make sense to pour £500 + mechanics time to repair it ?
 
bmh.01 said:
Not saying the OP can but you know you can take cars apart yourself?


.
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sorry, but if he's not got enough mechanical nouse to keep driving with the engine screaming its head off, he's most certainly not going to be the sort to start stripping engines.
 
Oh I agree was just the general comment that it can't be done for nothing which is not the case. Although it still costs just less (ish) :rolleyes:.
 
MrLOL said:
its worth more like £1000 in the current climate

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/739688.htm

possibly even less given the one above is a 2000. Given that the car is worth £900 or whatever, does it make sense to pour £500 + mechanics time to repair it ?
Click to expand...

His is a 1998 2.0 SRI not a 1.8 SXI you might aswell posted a secondhand price for a Nova.

£1600 seems the average price on PH.
 
Last edited:
Lots of crap in this thread.

Firstly an engine swap is definately a sensible thing to consider. A decent garage can do it in a day and second hand engines are cheap. It need not be ridiculously expensive.

Secondly its an Astra SRi, there is always a market for this sort of thing so £1500-£2000 sounds about right. Adverts for a different model with faults are not relevant.
 
Thanks for all the replies.

So it definately sounds like new engine time to you guys then?

Firestar_3x said:
Selling it for scrap would be a very foolish idea.

Get a secondhand engine and box from e-bay / breakers for £500ish

I'd take the cambelt cover off and look into what happened myself, its easy to see if something went wrong with the cambelt.
Click to expand...

Believe me, I really don't want to scrap it but I'm just thinking whether it is worth the hassle to fix everything.

MrLOL said:
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/693879.htm ?


it just doesnt make sense the ammount of work that this thing needs, dont forget it needs a new gearbox as well as a new engine.
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The fact that the gear box needs work is definately playing on my mind.

[TW]Fox;12833067 said:
Lots of crap in this thread.

Firstly an engine swap is definately a sensible thing to consider. A decent garage can do it in a day and second hand engines are cheap. It need not be ridiculously expensive.

Secondly its an Astra SRi, there is always a market for this sort of thing so £1500-£2000 sounds about right. Adverts for a different model with faults are not relevant.
Click to expand...

Yeah I'm quite confident I could get around £1500 if it was in good condition, but that is the price at the moment. I'm guessing that fixing the engine and gear box would probably come to around that price and if I sold it in another year the car would be worth even less. I'd also be paranoid a second hand engine developing a fault.
 
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